Tag Archives: Justification

God-Shaped Love – Sermon on Luke 10:23-37 for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

Luke 10:23-37

23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to teach the lawyer that he will never be saved by the Law and that he needs a Savior to have compassion on him and give him eternal life. The lawyer is the one who has been robbed, stripped, beaten, and left dead in the ditch. The Law, represented by the priest and Levite, passes by and can not and does not help him. With the parable Jesus is teaching that to be one who inherits eternal life, we must be rescued by an outsider whom we despised (Is. 53:3-4) and who owes us nothing. We sinners need a love and compassion that we could never repay from One who doesn’t even want to be repaid. This is the only way for this lawyer to be saved and the only way for any of us to inherit eternal life.

So, the parable of the Good Samaritan is about Jesus and what He does for sinners. Christ is the Good Samaritan who finds us dead in sin. He has compassion on us, comes to us, binds up our wounds, pours on oil and wine, lays us on His animal to bring us to the inn, and sets us up in an all-expenses paid room. That is the point of the parable. The parable is not telling sinners that they need to do good to everyone. The lawyer already knew that he needed to love everyone (Lk. 10:27). He knew the Law requires that he love God and neighbor perfectly. So, if you ever hear someone preaching or teaching that the purpose of this parable is to tell us to love everyone, know that you are hearing only a half-truth, and, often, half-truths are more dangerous than full lies.

Jesus is not calling us to be the Samaritan in order to be saved. Jesus is the Good Samaritan who saves us. Then, it is true that Jesus calls us to go and do likewise (Lk. 10:37). We are to be like Jesus. Christians are to be little Christs who have compassion on their neighbor because Jesus has had mercy upon us. Because we have been rescued by Christ, we have become inheritors of eternal life and children of God. This means Jesus’ call to, “Go and do likewise,” is an invitation for us to imitate Him because children are like their father.

So now, please know, I’m not going to be preaching on the main point of the parable for a bit here, but I am going to use the parable to show how we Christians, who have been saved and rescued from the ditch, are to love God by loving our neighbor.

Dear saints, we need God to shape our love, and He shapes our love by two things: First, by the Ten Commandments, and second, by our relationship to the neighbor that God puts in our life in at any given moment. Let’s flesh this out with an example:

God has called me here to be your pastor, so I have a love for you, my neighbors and members of my flock, that is shaped by the 3rd Commandment. I am here to faithfully preach and teach God’s Word to you, and you have a love for me, your neighbor, that is shaped by the 3rd Commandment to faithfully hear God’s Word as it is preached and taught. As a parent, I have a different love for my children that is shaped by 4thCommandment, so I buy them socks. Well, how it actually works in our house is I work to earn the funds so my wife can purchase our kids’ socks because she’s a lot better at finding good deals on the socks my kids like. I have no idea which socks they like. Sometimes, my 4th Commandment shaped love is to take those socks from the clothes drier and help my kids fold and organize them in their dresser. So, I have different vocations, different callings, and different kinds of love that are  shaped by the Commandments and my relationship to my neighbor. And these vocations are what any reasonable person would expect. My love as a pastor is to preach and teach the Word of God to His flock, and as a parent, I provide and care for my kids.

Now, stick with me here while I get a little absurd. It would be wrong for me, as your pastor, to come here on a Sunday morning, stand in this pulpit, and say, “No sermon today, but here are some new socks. I’ll come to your house later and help you organize your dresser.” That would be weird, right? At least, I hope you think it would be weird because it is. You still are my neighbor, and I am still commanded to love you as I love myself. But my 4th Commandment love for you is shaped differently than my 4th Commandment love for my own kids. My 4th Commandment love for you is shaped by my relationship to you. So, I am to encourage you to honor, serve, love, obey, and respect your parents and the authorities that God has placed over you. Now, this doesn’t mean that will never buy socks for you. God might change your needs so it would be good and right for me to buy you socks. But, hopefully, God won’t put you in a position like that. But if He does, let me know, and I’d be happy to buy you socks.

So, God shapes your love by the Ten Commandments, and God shapes your love based on the needs of your neighbor whom He places along your path. The English word ‘neighbor’ comes from the old word ‘nigh’ or modernized, ‘near.’ And it’s the same for Greek word used here. A neighbor one who is near to you. So, when God puts someone near to you, that is your neighbor. The priest and Levite in the parable come across the guy in the ditch and they both un-neighbor him by crossing by on the other side of the road. They refuse and reject the neighbor God has put in their life and refuse to care for his needs. They probably thought, “Everybody is my neighbor, so I’m going to go serve them.” That’s sinful. Your neighbor is the person that God puts in your life – whether you like it or not.

In our text the lawyer asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” and Luke tells us that the lawyer was asking this because he desired to justify himself. So, in the context, this was a bad question with wrong motives. But that question, “Who is my neighbor?” is typically a good question for us Christians to ask. It helps us identify our neighbor and see our neighbor’s needs so our love can be shaped by the Commandments. So, think back to the parable. The Samaritan would have passed by many different people on the road that day. He probably even met the Levite and the priest at some point in his journey, but the Samaritan didn’t put them up in an all-inclusive room because their needs didn’t dictate that he needed to.

In the parable, the Samaritan had his plans for the day. He was going somewhere with some purpose, but God put this robbed, stripped, beaten, half dead dude in his path and upended whatever those plans were. And the Samaritan stepped up in compassion and mercy to meet those needs realizing, “This is the guy that God has put in my path, so I am going to help and love him.”

So, please recognize that God shapes your love and gives you callings based on nearness. This is why God calls you to have more love for your family than for friends or for strangers. The closer people are to you, the more responsibility you have to them, the more opportunity you have to do good to them, the more opportunity you have to serve them. But we often turn aside and try to find excuses to not serve the one God has put near us. Instead, we prefer to choose our neighbor. In our technological society, the devil has ample tools to keep us from showing love to the neighbor that God puts in front of us to love and serve.

Dear saints, whomever God puts near you is the one that God has put in your life for you to serve. So, serve the one God has drawn nigh to you. Let God’s Commands and God’s placing of people in your life shape your love. As a spouse, parent, child, boss, employee, teacher, student, or friend, remember that God is the one who has given you those relationships and has brought that person near you. Love that one, and let that love be shaped by the Commandments and your relationship to that neighbor.

And quickly, this is an aside, but it’s something I thought about months ago and marked this text to preach on this: Many of you have experienced the loss of spouses, siblings, parents, and friends recently. When those who are near to you have died, you still have a God-shaped love for them. Even though they have passed from this world, they are still near to you. So, when they die, your God-shaped love takes a different form or shape, and that shape is grief. Jesus Himself wept when His friend, Lazarus, died (Jn. 11:35). Grief is the shape love takes when those God has brought close to you are gone. So, grieve, but grieve as those who have hope in the resurrection (1 Th. 4:13).

Now, all of that was secondary to the parable. I want to close by returning to the main point of the parable. Again, Jesus is the Good Samaritan who proved to be a neighbor to you. And, hopefully, this idea of loving the one who is near to you gives you a deeper understanding and appreciation of Christ’s compassion for you.

Jesus is God. And because He is God, you weren’t His neighbor, but He chose to become your neighbor. The eternal, infinite Son of God took on your flesh in order to be ‘nigh’ to you. Out of pure compassion, He saw you in the ditch, dead in sin (Eph. 2:1). He chose to become your neighbor and raise you from your deadness in sin.

His love for you took the shape of Him going to the cross. He was stripped, beaten, standing under the wrath of God that you deserved because of your sin, and dead. Dead and buried in a grave. Now, He is risen. And because He has done all of that, you are His child. And He will bring you to your inheritance which is eternal life with Him. He has promised. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Falling Up – Sermon on Luke 18:9-14 for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

Luke 18:9-14

9 [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Some portions of Scripture are familiar and important enough that all we need to hear is the book and chapter, and our mind recalls most of the content. For example, when you hear someone mention Psalm 23, you have all the sheep and shepherd imagery that the Psalm contains. Maybe you don’t have Psalm 23 completely memorized, but you know the general content. So, I have a pop quiz for you on this last Sunday of August, what comes to mind when you hear Genesis 3? Typically known as ‘The Fall [into Sin].’

It is somewhat unfortunate. Yes, that is when mankind and all creation became infected with sin. And because of that sin, we are born under God’s judgment and condemnation. So, yes, it is a fall. But when we label it ‘the Fall,’ we can easily forget how we fell. Mankind fell by trying to go up. Now, I’m not going to suggest that we rename that chapter in our minds, but I do want you to recognize the direction of the Fall.

God told Adam and Eve to not eat of the tree, but they decided to do it anyway. The devil asked the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Eve responded mostly correctly by pointing out the big downside of eating, “If we eat from it God says we will die.” (Now, she also adds not touching the tree to God’s prohibition against eating from the tree, but that’s for another time), “God told us to not eat it or we would die.” But Satan poo-poos the downside. “You won’t die; instead, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil.” The devil lies saying that the sin will only be beneficial to Adam and Eve.

The text goes on to say that the tree looked good for food, it was a delight to the eyes, and it was desired to make them wise and like God knowing good and evil. They both took and ate. They fell into sin, but they fell by trying to go upward. They rose up in pride. They exalted themselves. Believed in themselves. Trusted in themselves. They desired to rise high, up to godly and divine status. Ever since that moment, everyone who has ever been born has the same desire to exalt themselves.

Now, to the parable. Jesus tells this parable to individuals who continue in that line of thinking, they are falling up. They trusted (lit. they ‘persuaded’ or ‘convinced’ themselves) that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. That is why the two men in the parable are so different.

As the Pharisee prays, he is looking around at the lives of others – extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and tax collectors – and at his own life – his fasting and tithing. Now, all these works are, actually, good things. It is good and right to not be like the sinners that surround you, and it is good and right to do the good works that the Pharisee does. The Pharisee’s problem is not his good works. His problem is that everywhere he looks are places where he won’t find Jesus, the Righteous One, who makes sinners righteous. The Pharisee won’t find Christ by looking at his good life, and he won’t find Jesus by looking at the sins of his neighbor. All he sees is his goodness which leads him to pride. And his pride means that he goes home not justified. The Pharisee fell up. He went to the Temple of God, where God had promised to atone for sins, but the Pharisee receives no atonement.

The tax collector does go home justified. Think of all the things the tax collector could have prayed; he could have prayed, “God help me to be more like this Pharisee. Help me to live better, fast better, pray better, and tithe more.” But he doesn’t. The tax collector goes up to the Temple and sees only two things: the just demands of a holy God and his own sinfulness and depravity. He looks at himself where there is no hope and to God where the only hope lies. He sees the gap and cries out for mercy. Our translation records his prayer as, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” This translation is weak on two points. First, it is not just ‘a sinner’; he prays, ‘the sinner.’ The only sins he sees are his own. Second, the translation of his prayer, ‘be merciful,’ falls short.

Throughout the Gospels, many people call to Jesus, “Lord, have mercy,” or in Greek, “Kyrie eleison.” They ask Jesus to do exactly what He has come to do, to be their Lord who has mercy. It’s a good prayer. But what the tax collector in this parable prays is something similar but importantly different. The tax collector prays to God (lit.), “Be propitiated to me, the sinner.”

To propitiate means to make an atoning sacrifice. And the tax collector prays that God would be made to be, that God would become the atoning sacrifice for him. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word was also used for the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant. The place where the high priest would sprinkle the blood on the Day of Atonement and where God promised to meet with His people (Ex. 25:22; Lev. 16) was called by the same word. Jesus is that place where God makes the atoning sacrifice. 1 John 2:2 says, “[Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus is your Great High Priest who makes the propitiating sacrifice of Himself. 

Now, our problem is that we flip the parable upside down. We easily swap the Pharisees’ prayer with our own version, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men, self-righteous, pretentious, holier-than-thou types, or even like this Pharisee. I don’t take so much pride in my good works.” But when you do that, you are literally being the Pharisee. Repent.

The Pharisee’s problem was not his fasting or tithing, it isn’t even that he was glad that he wasn’t like the “really bad” sinners. His problem was that he trusted in those things and does not trust that Jesus will forgive him and be the propitiation for his sins. 

In the end, it is the tax collector who leaves the Temple with God having become the propitiation for his sins, so he goes down to his house justified. And that is an important point to keep in mind.

The tax collector goes home declared by God to be holy and just no matter how despicable he was. He goes home a changed man. He now goes down to his house to live out a holy life. God could have forgiven and propitiated him and swept him immediately up into heaven like Jesus did with the thief on the cross. But God doesn’t. And God hasn’t done that for you – not yet anyway. The tax collector goes home justified and that makes a difference for him, his family, his neighbors, and for the entire world. 

By God’s grace freely given through Jesus, the tax collector is exalted; he is lifted up. What Jesus says in Matthew 5 about Christians being the light of the world is fitting here. You aren’t the light of the world because you do all the good works of the Pharisee in this parable. Instead, you are forgiven and justified by Jesus who is the light of the world. That forgiveness and mercy joins you to Jesus who is the light of the world. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, you are given the gift of faith and enlightened. The Holy Spirit then places you on a lampstand so that you, the justified, give light to the whole house (Mt. 5:14-16).

Since the Fall, our thoughts have been upward, but God’s thoughts have been downward.  We sinners keep reaching for the heights, but Jesus has come down into the depths to raise you up and seat you with Him in the heavenly places (Col. 3:1-3).

Dear saints, don’t fall up. Don’t exalt your good works as though you are better than others. And don’t exalt your sinfulness as though you are better than the self-righteous because that isn’t humility either. Both of those are falling up. Instead, be exalted down. The most exalted you can be is to be one of the sinners for whom Jesus has come and given His life as a propitiation, an atoning sacrifice. And, dear saints, Christ has done this, and He has done this for you. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Justified – Sermon on Luke 18:9-14 for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

This sermon was preached at the 2021 East Grand Forks’ Heritage Days community church service.
Because the service was held outdoors, the audio quality is sub-par.

Luke 18:9-14

9 [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

A Pharisee and a tax collector go up to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee assumes a posture that we would recognize as prayer. He stands off by himself. He is likely looking up in thankfulness to God, but his eyes are busy scanning the other worshipers in the Temple, and his eyes look down in contempt for those who are there.

Now, we need to be careful about our animosity toward the Pharisee because he is simply doing what you and I do all the time. Remember, Jesus repeatedly warns against becoming like the Pharisees (Mt. 16:6-12; Mk. 8:15; Lk. 12:1), and Jesus wouldn’t give these warnings unless it is actually easy to become like them. But why is it easy? Why are we in danger of becoming like Pharisees?

Well, when we see others sin and when we notice the results of those sins, it confirms that good, upright behavior is beneficial to us and those around us. The stuff God calls us to do in the Ten Commandments is really good stuff, and your life is much better if you live according to God’s Commands. Think about it. When people commit adultery, do their lives get better or worse? Of course, they get worse. When people steal, they are more likely have their things stolen. If you deal drugs, your odds of getting shot, robbed, or thrown in prison are much higher.

The reality is that God didn’t just come up with a set of ten arbitrary rules. Instead, the Ten Commandments are written into the fabric of creation. When you go against the natural laws that God has woven into creation, it isn’t going to go well for you or for those around you.

And just a little side note here: Christians, we need to stand firm on the truths of the Commandments – especially that it is good to live in obedience to them. It is not loving to condone or promote the sins of others. When there is sin, we should speak of it as sin. We need to lovingly show how it hurts the individual committing that sin and how it harms those around that person.

But when you do that, you will face hostility. The world is likely going to throw Jesus’ words in your face about the speck in your neighbor’s eye and log in your own eye (Mt. 7:3-5). But don’t let them take those verses out of context! Remember, Jesus says to first remove the log in your eye so that you can see clearly and remove the speck in your neighbor’s eye. Jesus wants eyes to be free from both logs and specks. And Christ, in His mercy, has purchased forgiveness through His death and resurrection. In other words, when you point out someone’s sin, always do it in a way that points them to the freedom from and forgiveness of sin that comes only through Jesus. Amen?

Back to the Pharisee: He is there in the Temple praising himself and his own good works rather than praising God. This is so ludicrous! The Temple is the very place where God said that He would dwell with His people in order to forgive their sins. When King Solomon prayed at the dedication of the Temple, he said six times that when God’s people prayed toward the Temple that God would hear their pleas and, in His mercy, would forgive (2 Chr. 6:12-42).

But there, in the place of forgiveness, this Pharisee doesn’t want forgiveness because, in his mind, he doesn’t need forgiveness. Instead, he wants recognition, he wants accolades, he wants God’s applause. His prayer is nothing less than, “Hey, God. Look at how great I am.” Not even, “Hey, God. Look at how great You have made me.” God gets none of the credit from this Pharisee. His prayer is one of the most self-centered, self-interested, self-idolizing statements in the Scriptures.

Now, let’s consider the tax collector. The tax collector, when he looks at himself, sees nothing good, nothing worthy, nothing laudable. So, there is nothing for this tax collector to ask God for except mercy. Our translation records his prayer as, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” But this translation is weak on two points. First, it is not just ‘a sinner’; in the original Greek he says, ‘the sinner.’ The tax collector doesn’t know about any sins except his own. Second, the translation of his prayer, ‘be merciful,’ falls a bit short here.

Throughout the Gospels, many people call to Jesus, “Lord, have mercy” (Mt. 9:27, 15:22; Mk. 10:47; Lk. 17:13). That is always an excellent prayer. Praying, “Lord, have mercy,” is asking Jesus to do exactly what He has come to do. But what the tax collector in this parable actually prays is something similar but importantly different. The tax collector prays to God (lit.), “Be propitiated to me, the sinner.”

You get to have a little vocabulary lesson today. The noun ‘propitiation’ and the verb ‘propitiate’ have never been commonly used in English, but it is an extremely important Scriptural word and concept. To ‘propitiate’ means to make an atoning sacrifice. And the tax collector prays that God would be made the atoning sacrifice for him.

Remember again, this tax collector is praying in the Temple courtyard. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word, ‘propitiation,’ was also used for the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant – the place where the high priest would sprinkle the blood on the Day of Atonement and where God promised to meet with His people (Ex. 25:22; Lev. 16). The tax collector prays that God would do that forgiveness, that mercy, that cleansing to him.

Scripture goes on to teach us that Jesus is the place where God makes the atoning sacrifice. Christ is the real mercy seat. 1 John 2:2 says, “[Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” So, when the tax collector prays, “God, be propitiated to me, the sinner,” he is praying that God would be reconciled to him by the blood of Jesus. And that is why the tax collector, who is the far greater sinner, goes home justified rather than the well-behaved Pharisee. He looks to God in faith and asks God to be exactly who God has promised to be – a merciful, forgiving God.

So, what should we learn from this parable? Of course, this parable teaches that the worst of sinners can go to heaven. We know this, but unfortunately, we can grow a little numb to it. But the main reason Jesus tells this parable is to destroy any self-righteousness and contempt we would have against other sinners.

Christ wants us to recognize are not better than other people, but, because of our sinful nature, we are always tempted to be like the Pharisee thinking the worst of others and imposing our conceived motivations behind others’ actions so we can look down on them. Stop it. Repent.

Maybe that waitress who seems to be annoyed with you was in court fighting to keep custody of her children and away from her abusive boyfriend. Maybe that driver who is completely incompetent behind the wheel is on his way home after watching his mother die. Maybe that rude, intrusive, foul-mouthed kid on the playground hasn’t gotten any love or attention from his parents in months. Don’t look down on them and treat them with contempt.

But we should also take this a step further. Remember, Jesus told this parable to those who trusted in themselves and treated others with contempt. We are so sinfully arrogant that we often take pride in being humble like the tax collector. We are mistaken if think, since the Pharisee’s pride condemns him, that it is the tax collector’s humility that sends him home justified. Too easily we switch out the good works that the Pharisee mentions – his upright living, his fasting, his tithing – with the tax collector’s humility.

When we do that, humility becomes just another good work, and we begin boasting about our humility. We quickly swap the Pharisees’ prayer with our own version, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men, self-righteous, pretentious, holier-than-thou types, or even like this Pharisee. I’ve given You my heart, dedicated my life to You, and made You my Lord.” Stop that too! A person’s humility is not what merits or earns justification.

The point Jesus is making in this parable is to not look to yourself at all. Don’t try to find some super spirituality inside of yourself – whether it’s good works or humility. The thing, the only thing, that the tax collector looks to is the mercy of Christ.

Dear saint, you look there too. Look to the cross. Look to the blood of Jesus shed for you on Calvary. Look to His death. Look to His resurrection. Look to His ascension. And know that Jesus promises that all of that is for you. Through Christ – and through Him alone – you are redeemed, forgiven, and sent to your home justified. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

This sermon is a reworked, revised, and merging from sermons preached in 2019 & 2020.

What Does Such Baptizing with Water Signify? – Sermon for Midweek Lent 4

Listen here.

IV. What Does Such Baptizing with Water Signify?

It signifies that the old Adam in us, together with all sins and evil lusts, would be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance and be put to death; and that the new man should daily come forth and rise to live before God in righteousness and holiness forever.

Where is it so written?

St. Paul writes in the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Martin Luther Small Catechism

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Baptism saves (1 Pe. 3:21), forgives sins (Act. 2:38), delivers from death and the devil (Col. 1:13), and gives the new begetting from above (Jn. 3:3, 5-6). Still, one of the most common objections people have to those Scriptural teachings is they will say, “Baptism doesn’t save. Only Jesus saves by His death and resurrection.” Well, they’re half right. We agree with the second part of that statement.

Jesus alone saves us by His death and resurrection. Colossians 1:20 says that Jesus reconciled all things by making peace through the blood of His cross. Ephesians 2:13 says that we who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2:2, Paul says that he decided to know nothing among the Corinthian Christians except Christ and Him crucified. And, finally, Galatians 6:14 says, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” By His death and resurrection, Jesus, the eternal Son of God, won our salvation. Period.

But that leaves us with a problem. We weren’t there. Jesus was crucified 1,998 years ago and 6,185.425 miles away (as the crow flies between East Grand Forks and Jerusalem). So how does Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil get to us who live nearly 2,000 years later? How do we get the benefits of Jesus’ blood which was shed half the world away from here? According to Romans 6:3-4, it happens through your Baptism.

Your salvation was won and purchased on the cross, but it isn’t distributed there. The only one we know was saved on Mt. Calvary on that Good Friday was the thief on the cross, the one to whom Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43).

Think back to all the sporting competitions you have watched. The team that wins the Super Bowl might win the game on a play that happens in the 2nd quarter, but they don’t get the Lombardi Trophy until after the game clock runs out, and probably on a different part of the field than where the winning play occurred. In the Olympics, the person who wins the 100m dash doesn’t get their gold medal as they cross the finish line in first place. It wouldn’t be safe. Just imagine what would happen if the officials tried to hang the gold medal on the winner at the finish line of downhill skiing or the luge. Talk about an epic clotheslining. I can’t think of any instance where the prize is awarded at the exact moment and location of where the victory is won.

The same is true of salvation. Your salvation is won by Christ on the cross, but it isn’t delivered there. Your salvation is delivered to you in your Baptism.

I know that this final question from the Catechism asks, “What does Baptizing with water signify?” We’ll get to what it signifies, but first Romans 6 says that Baptism actually does something. All of us who have been Baptized into Christ Jesus were Baptized into His death. We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Your Baptism actually joined you to Jesus’ death. It isn’t just that it was a sign or some symbology (sic.). It actually picked you up from wherever you were when you were Baptized, brought you back in time to 33 AD, and joined you to Christ’s death on the cross.

Being joined to Jesus’ death is a good thing because that means you have a Jesus-kind of death – a death that doesn’t last very long. Christ was in the tomb for three days before He rose again, and since you have been Baptized into Christ and joined to Jesus’ death you can know that your time in the grave will not last either. Being joined to Jesus’ death means that you will certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His (Ro. 6:5).

Your Baptism is where God delivered your justification. It is where God declares you to be not guilty of your sins. Beyond that, your Baptism is where God calls you to think of yourself differently – to think of yourself as one who is and is being sanctified. In other words, your Baptism allows you to say that you are no longer defined by your sins, but by God’s righteousness.

Because of that, Baptism signifies that you daily die to sin and live before God in righteousness. That’s why our Epistle text (Ro. 6:1-14) closes by calling us to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies and make us obey our sinful passions. 

Through your Baptism you are truly forgiven, regenerated, and made holy. That is how God looks at you, Baptized Christian. But we also recognize from Scripture and our experience that this new life has only begun. It is not yet complete. You recognize that the Old Adam still dwells in you despite the fact that he was drowned in your Baptismal waters. Also, you recognize that the devil and the world still remain around you pestering you, trying to deceive you and lead you astray. The devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh want you to continue in those sins which were drowned and return to slavery to sin.

What occurred in your Baptism, the drowning and rising, the death and resurrection, isn’t something that is merely in the past, but neither is it something to come later in the future. Your Baptism is your present life, believer. Daily you repent of your sins, daily you believe in Christ crucified for your forgiveness, and daily you walk in newness of life until that great day when your Old Adam finally perishes, and you are perfectly and eternally renewed.

In other words, because your Baptism has actually joined you to Christ’s death and resurrection, live that out. Sin now has no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

So, each night, as you go to your bed, let it be a practice run at your death. Over and over, Scripture speaks about the death of believers as them falling asleep (Mt. 9:24; Jn. 11:4, 14; 1 Cor. 15:6; 1 Thess. 4:13). As you go to bed, confess your sins and read a passage of absolution. Hear how God has cast all your sins behind His back (Is. 38:17). How God blots out your transgressions for His own sake and will not remember your sins (Is. 43:25) Know that God promises that He removes your sins from you as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12) and that He tread your sins under His foot and cast them into the depths of the sea (Mic. 7:19). And as you sleep, die to those sins knowing that God’s steadfast love never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is His faithfulness (Lam. 3:22-23) to you.

Then, each morning think of your getting out of bed as a dress rehearsal for the Resurrection. Let your new, forgiven self come forth daily to rise and live before God in righteousness and holiness. Dear Baptized Christian, let each day of your forgiven life be a day where you take up your cross and follow after your Savior trusting in Him as you live and wait for your eternal inheritance with Him. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.